Rough waters, dark clouds, and a warship armed with no less than 80 cannons. It should feel threatening, yet Nicolaas Baurs painting s Lands warship Amsterdam before the Westerlaag on the IJ near Amsterdam depicts a moment of calm, not battle.
Nicolaas Baur, born in 1767, was a painter from Harlingen, the son of an art dealer and portrait painter. It was therefore natural that Baur would also master portrait art. But although he learned the trade from his father, his passion lay elsewhere. Winter scenes and expansive seascapes were what inspired Baur.
Sharp focus on light, air, and water
He started as a decorative wallpaper painter but quickly developed into a marine painter. He had a keen eye for light, air, and water, making his ships more than technical representations. They seemed to breathe with the surroundings, the air, and the water itself. He painted not only ships but also the atmosphere around them. Misty mornings, reflections on the water, the playing wind. His paintings were realistic but also contained a poetic observation, a moment as tangible as fleeting, captured in strokes by his brush.
The ship Amsterdam
The line ship Amsterdam belonged to a class of 4 ships designed by Roelof Dorsman and served in the Royal Navy. With a length of 195 feet, a crew of 700 men, and 80 cannons, it was an impressive sight. The ship underwent several name changes. It was born as Leeuw, then became Commercie van Amsterdam and Amsterdamsche Handel, and only in 1814 (7 years after Baur painted the ship) did it finally receive the name Amsterdam. The full name of the ship was Zr. Ms. Amsterdam. His Majestys. The ship ultimately sailed for the king.
Lost in a storm
In 1815, the ship sailed to the Dutch East Indies with 1,800 soldiers and 2 million guilders on board. The goal was ‘taking over our colonial possessions,’ according to archive documents. During the return journey in 1817, on December 11, the ship encountered a severe storm. The sails tore, and the masts broke. Due to the damage, the ship began to take on water. Therefore, a small boat was used in Algoa Bay to bring women, children, and the ships papers ashore.
Amsterdamhoek
The captain tried to prevent the ship from sinking by running it aground. Three sailors died in the process, but the remaining 217 reached the coast. Eventually, the ship broke into pieces on the night of December 19 to 20 due to the significant damage. In Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, the neighborhood Amsterdamhoek is named after this ship because it lay near the place where the ship sank.
Drift debris
In 1985, part of the ship washed ashore in Bluewater Bay. That wreck is now on display at the Bayworld Museum. Occasionally, drift debris still washes ashore, such as porcelain fragments, but most of the ship was cleared and secured immediately after the shipwreck. Botanist Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt lost part of his naturalia collected in the Dutch East Indies.
Cannons
During the excavation, three cannons were recovered. One is on display in Uitenhage. It was stolen in 2016 and later found on a wheelbarrow. Or as the newspaper stated: ‘Stolen cannon found on wheelbarrow.’ The other two were sold at an auction for 69,000 South African rand to a man who wanted to place them at the gate of his house in Johannesburg.
Turbulent waves
In Baurs painting, we see the ship from the side. Seagulls fly, and the city is visible in the background. The ships masts stand out sharply against a dark sky, while the wind blows, visible in the billowing sails and turbulent waves of the IJ. The sailors in the rigging must hold on tightly.
Moment of silence
Yet the painting also radiates calm, through the soft colors, the blue sky breaking through the clouds, and the gentle strokes of Baurs brush. Natural light falls on the ship and its boat. The threat of a warship becomes a moment of silence.
Paradox of the warship
The special thing about Baur is that he combines technical precision and atmosphere. He shows the ship in detail, every rope, every cannon port, without it becoming clinical. The foaming waves and symmetry of the water give the ship a monumental presence, as if it is both ready for action and part of the landscape. It is the paradox of the warship. Large and armed, yet at rest, part of the city.
The Collection
The collection of the Rijksmuseum consists of more than a million artworks, publications, and visitor stories. You can admire the collection not only in the museum but also online. In the series The Collection, we pick an Amsterdam painting, print, or drawing from the Rijksmuseum collection each time and provide context. This time s Lands warship Amsterdam before the Westerlaag on the IJ near Amsterdam by Nicolaas Baur.
Image: Rijksmuseum